Special Educational Needs and Disability, Pupil Premium and Catch Up Premium.

Welcome to The Blandford School Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) webpage. We hope you find the following information informative and reassuring as to the variety of ways we can support our young people with SEND to reach their full potential.

“A pupil has SEN where their learning difficulty or disability calls for special educational provision, namely provision different from or additional to that normally available to pupils of the same age.” SEND Code of Practice, 6.1

The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) is responsible for overseeing and planning the educational programme for all SEND students in the school. Different levels of support can be implemented dependent upon the needs of the student.

Should a young person be identified as requiring support to enable them to access the curriculum we have different support options available.

Support can include:

Learning Support lessons

1:1 interventions

Small group work

Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA)

In class support.

In class differentiation

Any intervention is communicated with parents/carers and the opportunity to discuss this with the SENCo is available. Parents are kept informed of progress. We pride ourselves on good communication and links with home. We regularly contact parents to discuss a variety of issues beyond just those academic concerns to develop a joint approach from both home and school to ensure the young person is well supported and happy.

In school we are able to provide daily support via our Lunch Lounge (safe haven), Year Teaching Assistant (TA) nurture groups, Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA), mentoring and Homework Club.

If necessary outside agencies would be called in to further support students:

Special Educational Needs Support Service (SENSS)

Ansbury Career Advisors

Educational Psychologist (EP) service

Children and Adolescents Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

School Nurse

Community Paediatrician

Hearing and Vision Support Service

Speech and Language Support Service

Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy

Locality Social Worker/Social Care

Youth Inclusion and Support Panel

Youth Offending Team

Shadows

LS Classroom

Where required we will request support from outside agencies as to how to best support our SEND students. Where appropriate audits, assessments and guidance can be sought and carried out to help us ensure the environment is appropriate to the needs we strive to support.

From a medical perspective we have fully trained first aiders in school. Our lead first aider is responsible for all medical information being disseminated and student medication being administered where appropriate. We have the support of our Community Paediatrician for referrals of a medical nature. We are also able to refer students to the school nurse or other health professionals. Care plans are implemented where appropriate.

Where students need emotional and social support we are able to provide Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA) who work with students within school. We are able to provide package timetables with mentoring as part of this. We have a Student Support Worker who works directly with the students with regards to any emotional needs. Where students are experiencing emotional issues to the level where it is impacting upon their learning, the Head of Year can initiate a Pastoral Support Plan which involves both home and school support.

Communication with parents/carers is absolutely vital. We actively encourage parents to update us, where appropriate, on issues, concerns and general information that can help us help the young person in our care. Parental support is imperative as they are the experts on their children and the information they can give us will help us efficiently support the needs of their child.

An important part of a young person’s development is their preparation for adulthood. We need to work together with the young person, parents/carers and agencies (where necessary) to ensure that the best outcome is achieved for the young person. This outcome must include the academic, social, emotional angles and their self esteem.